Review: I Feel Pretty (2018)

* * *
Director: Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein
Starring: Amy Schumer

Michelle Williams is a goddamn genius. If AMPAS gave her an Oscar for her performance in I Feel Pretty (it would never happen, that's beside the point) I would be like, "Yep, absolutely." Her character work and total investment in that character make her the absolute highlight of a film that I suspect will be judged and denounced by significantly more people than actually bother to see it. I Feel Pretty is already one of the most divisive films of the year, with critics either really liking it or really hating it and think pieces about it popping up all over entertainment sites. I'm not going to suggest that I Feel Pretty doesn't have problems, but I do think that it's a lot less problematic than all the words that have been devoted to analyzing it would suggest.

Review: All the Money in the World (2017)

* * *
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, Christopher Plummer

In the long run All the Money in the World may never quite get out from under the shadow that looms over it, destined perhaps to be best remembered as the answer to a trivia question, even though it has a lot more going for it than the behind the scenes saga about how it managed to come to the screen. It has a fantastic performance from Michelle Williams, for one thing, and a great one from Christopher Plummer, and both are just as impressive as director Ridley Scott's ambitious/crazy plan to reshoot parts of the film in order to excise original star Kevin Spacey but keep the film's original release date (the film was released right on schedule December 18th, despite reshoots taking place during the week of American Thanksgiving). This isn't to suggest that the fact that Scott actually pulled this off doesn't make for a grand technical achievement (not to mention one hell of a story itself), I just want to make sure to emphasize that the end result is more than just an exercise in trying to achieve what should be impossible on such a tight deadline.

Review: Certain Women (2016)

* * * 1/2
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Lily Gladstone, Kristen Stewart

Over the course of six feature films, writer/director Kelly Reichardt has become a master of the small-scale story, narratives where the stakes are slight and deeply personal, driven by character more than plot. In Certain Women "plot" barely even registers; things happen, but what happens seems almost incidental. It's a film that's all about reaction, about how the women in the film respond to things they hadn't anticipated and how they're changed, or not changed, by them. It's an expertly told, intuitive film that tells three tenuously connected stories, each one anchored by a different actress. Most films struggle to find room for one good female character; this one features four and makes it look so easy that you're left wondering what the problem is with other movies.

21st Century Essentials: Synecdoche, New York (2008)

All eras have works of art that are fundamental to our understanding of not only the craft itself, but the culture from which it was created. The 21st century is still nascent, but it isn't too early to start creating a canon that demonstrates the heights to which film as an artform has reached since the year 2000. These are the essential films:


Director: Charlie Kaufman
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Dianne Wiest, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson
Country: USA

Worlds within worlds within worlds. A life is comprised not just of experiences, but of how the mind filters, understands, organizes and relates those experiences. Because of that, a life cannot be understood in simple terms; an event is not just an event, but something defined by multiple layers of meaning, some of which remain hidden. Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synecdoche, New York is a film of almost unfathomable ambition, one rich with ideas about the relationship between the mind and reality, which starts as a story of the interior and then just keeps burrowing deeper and deeper until finally turning itself inside out. It’s a film which demands multiple viewings and which can, perhaps, never be fully unpacked – but it’s well worth a try.

Canadian Film Review: Take This Waltz (2012)

* * *
Director: Sarah Polley
Starring: Michelle Williams, Luke Kirby, Seth Rogan

It's difficult to think of Take This Waltz without comparing it to writer/director Sarah Polley's previous film, Away From Her, or to star Michelle Williams' previous film about an unhappy marriage, Blue Valentine (not to mention the wealth of other stories of this kind). Taken in consideration with those films, Take This Waltz is a bit of a disappointment. Taken on its own terms, it's a perfectly fine, though never great, film about restlessness in the face of commitment and finality (and, hey, if Williams is in danger of becoming the cinematic patron saint of unhappy wives, at least she finds different notes to play in each of them).

Review: My Week with Marilyn (2011)

* * *
Director: Simon Curtis
Starring: Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh

Movies like My Week with Marilyn exist for one reason and one reason only, and that's as a showcase for a performance. All the eggs go into this particular basket and everything else becomes of secondary importance, which leaves little room for error with that central performance. Fortunately, Michelle Williams' turn as Marilyn Monroe is fantastic, the kind that goes beyond "impersonation" and firmly into "inhabitation." However, the caliber of her performance can't disguise how average the film itself is, as it does little to break away from the cliches of its genre, and does even less to offer any new insight into the woman who was, arguably, the greatest film star of all time.

Review: Meek's Cutoff (2011)

* * * 1/2
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Michelle Williams

Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff is the kind of movie that only a cinephile could really like. It is minimalist to the extreme and consists of a lot of scenes which are simply long shots of people in pioneer garb walking through the desert, growing increasingly despondent. It's the kind of film that could easily be called pretentious were it not for Reichardt's abilities as a craftsman.

Oscarstravaganza: Brokeback Mountain

* * * *

Winner: Best Director, 2005
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway

Brokeback Mountain is representative of a lot of things to a lot of people. For some it is a watershed film that suggests a movement towards a more inclusive mainstream cinema. For others, it is a lightning rod for controversy and further evidence of society’s decaying values. It is one of two films involved in what is easily the most contentious Best Picture selection of the last decade. “Brokeback Mountain” is bigger than the film itself, bigger than the story on which it is based, bigger than even the Hollywood machine. Its reception is indicative of the volatile relationship between society and the individual and a measure of the distance left to travel in the battle for equality. But beneath all of that lies a quiet and beautifully crafted masterpiece, a film that transcends whatever boundaries might otherwise ghettoize it as a "gay movie" to become, simply, a great movie.

Beginning in 1962, the film explores the relationship between Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) that begins at the eponymous locale. Hired to tend to sheep for the summer, Ennis and Jack go up the mountain, set up camp, and prepare for months of near total isolation. They have no one but each other for company and yet spend large swaths of time apart, as one is supposed to tend to the camp while the other guards the sheep, leaving the flock only twice per day in order to have breakfast and dinner. One night the routine is broken and both spend the night at camp, their relationship progressing from longing looks to physical contact.

They insist to each other that they aren’t gay, agreeing that their relationship is situational, though their bond obviously runs much deeper than that. When the job ends, they come back down the mountain and go their separate ways – Jack back to the rodeo, Ennis to marry Alma (Michelle Williams). Four years pass. Ennis and Alma have two daughters and are barely able make ends meet; Jack has given up the rodeo and settled into a life of financial comfort with his wife Lureen (Anne Hathaway) and their son, and sells farm equipment for his father-in-law’s company. When the opportunity arises to pass through Wyoming, Jack looks Ennis up and they pick up where they left off.

Seeing Brokeback Mountain again for the first time in years, I was struck by the thread of loneliness that runs through it. The landscape is open and empty; the characters are isolated and unable, for the most part, to connect with each other. The most meaningful connection is forged reluctantly, kept alive through brief intervals of contact over the course of some twenty years. Ennis and Jack spend most of their relationship lonely not only for each other but also for themselves and the ability to abandon a pretence that makes life painful for them. Jack is willing to take the risk, always talking about setting off so that they can have a real life together, but Ennis, scarred by a violent memory from childhood, won’t be persuaded and so their relationship remains a major force relegated to the very margins of their lives. One of the most touching scenes in the film comes at the end, when Ennis’ daughter invites him to her wedding. He tells her that he doesn’t think he can take time off work, an excuse he also used occasionally with Jack, and then thinks better of it, having learned how precious time with someone you love can be. He may never feel safe enough to let her know this other part of himself, but he won't keep himself from her entirely either. In a performance that is strong from beginning to end, these are Ledger's finest moments.

Due to its subject matter, the film was controversial before it even hit theatres, though it isn't at all explicit. In fact, the physicality between Ledger and Gyllenhaal is downright chaste compared to some of the obligatory pseudo-lesbianism that is occasionally shoehorned into the American mainstream. However, in making Ennis and Jack cowboys, Brokeback challenges a very masculine, very American image and calls into question popular conceptions of sexuality and gender, exposing those popular images for the fragile poses that they are. It also explores its themes in terms of the personal rather than the political. In films like Milk and Philadelphia, for example, the focus isn't on the protagonists' sex lives as much as it is on the issues of equality and acceptance. Brokeback Mountain can't be considered in the same terms because Ennis and Jack aren't crusaders but two simple men trying simply to find happiness. This isn't an "issue movie" but a romance that asks the viewer to see its characters as human beings rather than symbols and questions why their desires should be considered illegitimate and what purpose is served by making two consenting adults feel like criminals for wanting to be together.

As the starcrossed lovers, Ledger and Gyllenhaal both render solid, effective performances. For many people, myself included, this film was the first indication that Ledger could actually, you know, act and though Ennis is a man of few words, Ledger is able to convey his inner turmoil. As for Gyllenhaal, he guides Jack's transition from needy youth to weary and fed-up middle-age without ever missing a beat. The ageing process for the two characters is done in such a subtle, believable way that you hardly even notice as you're watching and that's as much a credit to makeup as it is to the two actors and the ways that they allow their characters to grow and change over time.

Although Brokeback Mountain's impact on the culture is not as great as its ubiquity might suggest, given the dearth of gay characters as romantic leads in mainstream cinema since its release, it is nevertheless a great film. It is as powerful today as when it was first released and by all rights should be considered one of the great movie love stories of all time.

Review: Wendy and Lucy (2008)

* * * 1/2
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Michelle Williams

Wendy and Lucy is a film of quiet devastation and effective simplicity. It is the story of a young woman standing at the abyss and the dog that represents the last shred of stability in her life. It is exactly the movie that it needs to be, no more and no less, and its central performance by Michelle Williams is a thing of absolute beauty. It’s the kind of performance that makes you lament that a) there are so few good roles for women and b) whenever good roles for women come around, they all come around at the same time and compete with each other for a limited amount of attention, as was the case in 2008.

Williams is Wendy, a young woman making her way to Alaska for work with nothing but her car, her dog, and about five hundred dollars. As she’s passing through Oregon her car breaks down, putting her already limited funds at risk. She’ll have to have the car towed to a shop to have a couple of parts replaced, which would be worrying enough in and of itself but she’s also out of dog food, can’t afford to put a roof over her head for the time it will take to fix her car, and has no one to turn to. At one point she makes a call to her brother, but once his wife picks up the other line to join the conversation it becomes clear that this is a dead end as far as help is concerned. Wendy is entirely on her own except for Lucy.

Desperate, Wendy goes to a grocery store and shoplifts some dog food. She’s caught on the way out by an overzealous teenage clerk, drunk on his own minimal sense of power, who sanctimoniously declares that if someone can’t afford dog food then they shouldn’t have a dog in the first place. He pressures his manager to enforce their zero tolerance policy and calls the police, who take Wendy away while Lucy remains tied up outside the store. By the time Wendy is released, Lucy is gone and the rest of the film passes with her trying to find her dog and trying to keep it together as things continue to fall apart.

The material of this story would provide a lesser actor with an opportunity to gnash and over-emote from one end of the film to the other, but Williams smartly underplays it. Played by Williams, Wendy is a woman struggling valiantly to retain what is left of her dignity and just make it to the light at the end of the tunnel. She makes mistakes to be sure, but she’s a decent person and that shines out of her. There is a reason why most of the people she encounters are willing to help her in small, unasked for ways and it goes beyond them simply feeling sorry for her. She isn’t pathetic – though in other hands she easily could have been – she’s just a good person who has fallen on extremely hard times and finds herself forced to make one difficult choice after another.

Just as Williams’ performance is understated, so is the direction by Kelly Reichardt, who takes a sit back and watch kind of approach to the action. There isn’t a lot of stylistic interference with the story, no unnecessary padding, no colourful and eccentric supporting characters. The film is confident enough in itself to just be what it is, a portrait of a woman in dire straits, and because it doesn’t dilute its meaning by trying to be about everything, it is effective in capturing the spirit of these uncertain financial times. Though it received little in the way of a marketting push while it was in theaters, it's a film that will stand the test of time and I have no doubt that it will find an audience now that it's on DVD. If you see it in the video store, don't hesitate to rent it.